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Water Transport Construction of the Greater Mekong Riparian Countries

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Water Transport Construction of the Greater Mekong Riparian Countries THE WATER TRANSPORT NETWORK BETWEEN YUNNAN AND MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA ——A Study of GMS Water Transport Network Construction—— He Shengda Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences With total area of 394,000 square kilometers and with Special location of highland connecting Southwest China to Mainland Southeast Asia, Yunnan Province has six water systems, namely Lancang—Mekong River, Irrawady River, Yuanjiang—Honghe (Red) River, NuJiang—Salween River, Yangtse River and Zhujiang (Pearl) River. Knows as “the Water Tower of Asia”, Yunnan is one of China’s provinces that are plentiful of water supply as well as the only area in Asia which has six water systems. Among these water systems, Lancang-Mekong River is an international River with great significance to the riparian states, which flows from China to Mainland Southeast Asian countries. Originating from Tanggula Mountian of Northwest China’s Qinghai province and with total length of 4,880 kilometers, Lancang-Mekong River flows through Qinghai Province, Tibetan Region and seven prefectures of Yunnan Province. It enters into Mainland Southeast Asia from Xishuangbanna Prefecture at Sino-Lao PDA 244 Border Merestone and then is called Mekong River. The Mekong River flows through Lao PDA, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and finally affluxes into the Pacific Ocean at Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam. Since the initiative of GMS cooperation in 1992, the Lancang-Mekong sub-region has been called Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) with a total area of 2.30 million square kilometers and around 250 million heads of total population. There are four international rivers within this sub-region, namely, the Greater Mekong River, Irrawady River, Yuanjiang—Honghe (Red) River and Nujiang—Salween River. All of the four rivers flow from Yunnan Province into respective Mainland Southeast Asian Countries. Among them, the three rivers of Mekong, Irrawady and Yuanjiang—Honghe are with great potentials for water transport development. These rivers could become water passage and transport network connecting China’s Yunnan Province with the five Mainland Southeast Asian countries by joint 1 cooperation and development. Construction of Water Transport Network between Yunnan and Mainland Southeast Asia 1. Development of Lancang-Mekong Sub-regional or GMS Water Transport The Lancang-Mekong River flows through the six countries and has long been the natural link among the people of the riparian countries since the ancient times. With further development of GMS cooperation, the people of the six riparian countries started to construct water transport beginning from 1990s. China’s Yunnan Province, together with Myanmar, Thailand and Lao PDA, chose Lancang-Mekong navigation as the breakthrough of GMS water transport construction. After six rounds of negotiations over the continuous seven years beginning from 1993, the said four countries signed An Agreement of Lancang-Mekong Commercial Navigation, and formulated a series of following-up rules and regulations, which makes Lancang-Mekong navigation between the four countries to be under legitimate measures and guarantees. In accordance with the agreement, the commercial navigation starts from China’s Simao Port to Louangphrabang of Lao PDA, with a total length of 786 kilometers. The Navigation route has 14 open ports and docks among which Simao, Jinghong, Menghan and Guanlei are in China’s Yunnan Province; Ban Sai, Muang Mo, Vang Baleng, Houei Sai and Louangphrabang are in Lao PDA; Wan Beng and Suo Loi (2002) are in Myanmar; Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong are in Thailand. The four countries held the Opening Ceremony of the Commercial Navigation in China’s Jinghong City on June 26th, 2001, which was counted as a new milestone of GMS navigation story. The number of Yunnan’s commercial ships on Lancang-Mekong River increased from eight to eighty-eight over the ten years from 1993 to 2002, with total carrying capacity of 9,152 tons, and with the biggest single carrying capacity increased from 60 tons to 250 tons over the same period. Recently, the freight capacity reached 300,000 tons and annual passenger carrying capacity is more than 50,000 person-times. Myanmar, Lao PDA and Thailand also have more than 50 cargo ships entering into China’s Guanlei Dock. The commercial ships from the four countries now have free access to the said navigation route. 2. Construction of Sino-Myanmar Road-Water Through Transport Irrawady River originates from the east transverse mountain range of Himalayan. It was respectively named Jitaiqu River and Dulong River in China’s Tibetan Region and Yunnan Province. After the river flows into Myanmar from Sino-Myanmar 41 Border Merestone in Yunnan’s Gongshan County, it affluxes into Nmai HkaRiver at Kanpetlet, and flows further 2 south and affluxes into Mali Hha River, where it is regarded as the upper stream of so-called Irrawady River. Before the River affluxes into Indian Ocean near Rangon City, it flows north-south through Myanmar’s major cities of Myitkyina, Bhamo, Mandalay and Pagan, which is known as “the Town of Pagoda”. With riparian areas of 430,000 square kilometers, Irrawady River has a total length of 2,200 kilometers among which 171 kilometers are in China (80 kilometers in Yunnan), and the other 2,029 kilometers are in Myanmar. The 1,277 km long Bhamo—Yangon section of Irrawady River began commercial shipment as early as in 1867 under British colony. The Road-Water Through Transport between China and Myanmar links Yunnan-Myanmar Road built in World War II with Irrawady water passage in Myanmar. Now the Yunnan section of Yunnan—Myanmar Road has been improved as highway. The Sino-Myanmar Road-Water Through Transport originates from Kunming and enters into Myanmar from Ruili of Dehong Prefecture via Kunming—Ruili Expressway (807 km). It has 116.3 km of road length from Yunnan-Myanmar border to Bhamo, where it connects Irrawady river and then extends to Yangon, with total length of waterway around 1,277 kilometers. The associated transportation agencies of both Chinese and Myanmar governments have conducted talks and surveys on this road-water through transport. 3. Sino-Vietnam Cooperation on Honghe River Transport Originating from Weishan County of Yunnan’s Dali Prefecture, Yuanjiang—Honghe River flows through 14 counties/cities within Yunnan Province and enters into Northwest Vietnam after Nanxi River joins it at Hekou City. In Vietnam, the river flows through the country’s capital, Hanoi City, and then enters into the Gulf of Tokin. Honghe River has 1,200 kilometers length, among which 695 kilometers are in Yunnan Province. It was historically a major water passage connecting Yunnan with Vietnam though the passage was later broken for a variety of reasons. With steady development of GMS cooperation over the past decade and further improvement of Sino-Vietnam bilateral relations, both Yunnan Province and Vietnam are increasingly showing interest in restoring Yuanjiang—Honghe River transport and making it as an important way of Yunnan-Vietnam water passage. The 99.4 km long section from Manhao to Hekou County of China’s Yunnan Province (the opposite side is Laocai Province of Vietnam) is to be developed into 7-level water passage with carrying capacity of 50 tons while the 505 km long section from Hekou to Vietnam’s Hai Phong, especially the 155 km long section between Hekou and Yen Bai, has many reefs and riffle. By dredging up, this section will have carrying capacity somewhere from 100 tons to 200 tons, and with total carrying capacity of the whole river around 1.0—1.5 3 million tons. Recently the two sides of Yunnan and Vietnam conducted a series of talks and feasibility studies on navigation of the river. Sub-regional Water Transport Construction: Its Implications to GMS Cooperation 1. To meet the needs of infrastructure improvement for GMS countries Lancang-Mekong River is a natural link which closely connects the six riparian countries. The establishment of China-ASEAN FTA and development of GMS economic cooperation requires the transport passage linking China with Southeast Asia and the GMS transport network to play as the major channels. Under GMS cooperation mechanisms, Lancang-Mekong sub-regional navigation, Pan-Asian Railway, Kunming-Bangkok Highway are listed as multinational or ADB-funded projects while Lancang-Mekong sub-regional navigation is the key opponent as well as the initiative of all these projects. In 2000, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji addressed at the 4th Sino-ASEAN Summit, “China is willing to provide financial assistance for Lao PDA and Myanmar to dredge up the Mekong River within their respective territories so as to improve the navigation conditions and to ensure security for commercial ships of the four countries.” Later on, the four countries reinforced cooperation is this respect. The China-Myanmar Road-Water Through Transport and the Yuanjiang—Honghe River water passage will also respectively improve Sino-Myanmar and Sino-Vietnam Transport networks. The sub-regional navigations of the said rivers will therefore become common interest and strategic choices of the riparian countries. 2. To speed up economic development and urbanization of the areas along the rivers Although road transport plays the most important role in GMS cooperation, water passage also occupies a large share due to its advantages in less investment with low cost of transport as well as the conditions of river areas being diverse to those of road-route areas. Over the past ten years from 1995 to 2005, the export/import volume of Yunnan Province via Lancang-Mekong water passage amounted to 3 million tons, with an accumulated trade value of RMB10 billion. Agro-byproducts, such as vegetables and fruits, are the major items of export/import trade between Yunnan and Mainland Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the sub-regional water passages of the GMS countries also bring about prosperous businesses of commerce, plantation, stock raising, building materials, tourism as well as urbanization along the river areas.
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